Pre-tax profits at Irish-owned Acorn Life top €5.8m
According to accounts just filed by the Galway-based firm, the company’s revenues declined from €63.6m to €55.6m in the 12 months to the end of December.
The filings show that the company’s profits were boosted by a €3m profit from the sale of a subsidiary resulting in the €5.8m pre-tax profit.
This compares to a pre-tax profit of €6m in 2009.
Business development manager with Acorn Life, Keith Butler said yesterday that the company’s profits were hit by a €750,000 devaluation in its property portfolio during the year.
He said: “We are quite pleased with how the company performed last year. Our embedded value grew from €71.5m to €73.5m during the year and our own share price increased by 4%.”
Mr Butler added: “It is a tough environment and we take a longer term view on how the company performs. The company’s financial strength at the end of last year was very strong.”
The accounts show that total assets at the end of 2010 stood at €486.5m — up on €437.8m in 2009.
The company paid a dividend of €8.2m during the year to its immediate parent, Tanis.
Acorn Life directly employs 106 people. It also has an additional 150 direct sales force who are sole traders but tied exclusively to the company.
Mr Butler said it is the company’s aim to increase the direct sales force to 300 by 2015 to make Acorn Life the largest direct sales financial services company in the country.
He said: “We are looking to expand the sales force and we see opportunity in the current crisis and we are also looking to expand our product range.”
He said that sales for 2011 “are in line with last year and we have taken out costs this year”.
According to the directors’ report “following the shock of 2008 and 2009, cancellation volumes reduced during 2010 although they are considerably higher than the long term averages”.
The report goes on: “Sales across the industry continued to decline in 2010 and the company experienced a corresponding decline in its own sales”.
The directors also state that “remuneration of key sales staff remained an issue throughout the year with funding losses increasing as a consequence.
“A substantial bonus scheme has been agreed for 2011 that should aid the return of a normal commission model”.
The directors state they are confident that “the company remains well placed to grow further once the economy starts to recover”.
The figures show that directors’ aggregate remuneration last year dropped from €854,000 to €839,000 with staff costs increasing from €6.2m to €7m.
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